Canadian Researchers Develop Inexpensive Malaria Treatment

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Scientists in Saskatoon, Canada have developed a malaria treatment that will help fight malaria, which kills about one million people each year.

The new developments which will provide an affordable, reliable, and stable treatment for malaria and is likely to save millions of lives, especially those of women and children in Africa. The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, along with Mr. Brad Trost, Member of Parliament for Saskatoon–Humboldt, announced the breakthrough today and highlighted the Government’s research support.

“Our government is committed to improving the health of women and children in developing countries,” said Minister Goodyear. “This new development in the production of a malaria treatment represents a major development in the fight against the disease. It will strengthen Canada’s position as a world leader in health research and provide a reliable and affordable solution.”

Today’s announcement is a result of  The Artemisinin Project, a public-private partnership led by OneWorld Health in collaboration with sanofi-aventis, Amyris, the University of California at Berkeley, and the National Research Council Canada. Artemisinin is a natural compound found in a traditional Chinese medicinal plant grown mainly in Africa and Asia to treat malaria. The Government of Canada’s investment of approximately $869,000 in this research has led to technology that can produce a stable and affordable supply of artemisinin for the developing world on a not-for-profit basis.

“Collaboration on the development of this new technology promises to have a major impact on supply of malaria treatment across the developing world, which will be an important contribution towards the global effort to combat malaria,” said Dr. Richard Chin, Chief Executive Officer of OneWorld Health.

According to the World Health Organization, malaria causes approximately 250 million illnesses and more than one million deaths each year, of which 90 percent occur in Africa, mostly in pregnant women and in children. The disease is endemic in nearly 100 countries, including 28 on the African continent. This project is expected to help treat 200 million cases and prevent over one million deaths annually.

About the National Research Council of Canada’s Artemisinin Research

In 2003, researchers at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) in Saskatoon set out to identify the genes that control the synthesis of artemisinin. Produced by Artemisia annua (a traditional Chinese medicinal plant), this natural compound is extracted from plants grown in Africa and Asia to treat malaria — a major threat to maternal and child health around the world.

Led by Dr. Patrick Covello, the NRC team identified various genes in the plant’s metabolic pathway that produce artemisinin. Using various microbial and plant platforms, such as yeast and tobacco, they conducted research to find alternative means of supplying low cost artemisinin-based drugs.

The Government of Canada has invested approximately $869,000 in this research. In partnership with Amyris, OneWorld Health and sanofi-aventis, NRC’s technology promises to have a major impact on malaria treatment across the developing world.

The NRC worked in partnership with “The Artemisinin Project,” funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This project is led by OneWorld Health, in collaboration with Amyris Biotechnologies, the University of California at Berkeley, and sanofi-aventis.

In 2004, the Institute for OneWorld Health was awarded $42.6 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a new source of artemisinin for distribution to the developing world. OneWorld Health created a collaboration between researchers at the University of California, Berkeley who were using yeast to synthesize high-value natural compounds produced by higher plants and other organisms. This work led to the creation of Amyris, a spin-off company, who also joined the collaboration. The aim of the Artemisinin Project was to identify genes in the artemisinin pathway and develop yeast strains that could produce large amounts of artemisinic acid, a key intermediate for the synthesis of artemisinin.

In 2008, the NRC and Amyris signed a license agreement, allowing the company to incorporate NRC’s discovery of two key genes in the artemisinin pathway into Amyris’ proprietary system, effectively doubling the yield of the end-product.

Subsequent to these research milestones, in July 2010, OneWorld Health announced an additional grant of $10.7 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to scale-up production and commercialize the drug. Global pharmaceutical company, sanofi-aventis, is the partner that will formulate the drug for distribution on a not-for-profit basis across Africa and other regions vulnerable to the disease.

About Malaria

Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. Its symptoms include extreme exhaustion, fits of high fever, sweating, shaking chills and anemia.

Malaria parasites destroy red blood cells in the body, leading to anemia. Without adequate treatment, infected red blood cells block vessels leading to the brain or damage other vital organs, often resulting in death.

Infected people living in highly endemic areas often develop immunity to the disease and become asymptomatic carriers of malaria, contributing to epidemics.

According to the World Health Organization, malaria causes approximately 250 million illnesses and more than one million deaths per year, of which 90 percent occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is endemic in nearly 100 countries, including 28 countries on the African continent.

In many countries, malaria is the leading killer of children under 5 years of age. Many children who survive an episode of severe malaria suffer learning impairments or brain damage.

Pregnant women and their unborn children are particularly vulnerable to malaria. More than 45 million women — 30 million in Africa — become pregnant in malaria-endemic areas each year.

During pregnancy, malaria can cause maternal anemia, impaired fetal growth, spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, premature birth and low birth weight. In sub-Saharan Africa, up to 40 percent of low birth weight is due to maternal malaria, resulting in up to 400,000 infant deaths per year.

In many areas, the malaria parasite is increasingly resistant to older, inexpensive, single drugs such as chloroquine. Currently, the most effective treatments involve combinations of artemisinin-based therapies and other antimalarials to prolong each drug’s effectiveness and delay resistance.

The source of artemisinin — Artemisia annua (also known as wormwood) — is cultivated mainly in Africa and Asia. However, because of the agricultural time scale, the delay between increased demand and new supply can be up to 14 months, causing shortages and limiting the ability to control the disease.

Source: National Research Council Canada

Anacor Pharmaceuticals Enters Development Agreement with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)

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Anacor Pharmaceuticals has entered into a development agreement with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) to develop Anacor’s compound AN3661 for the treatment of malaria.

Under the agreement, Anacor and MMV will work together on the development of AN3661 through human proof-of-concept studies. AN3661 was developed as part of a research agreement signed by the two parties in April 2010 to identify new compounds for the treatment of malaria using Anacor’s boron chemistry. AN3661 is the first candidate arising out of the research agreement to move into preclinical development.

“We are pleased with the productivity of our collaboration with MMV thus far and with the extraordinary promise of AN3661,” said David Perry, Chief Executive Officer of Anacor Pharmaceuticals. “We hope that the combination of our boron chemistry platform and research capabilities and MMV’s funding and disease expertise will enable us to develop AN3661 into a new therapeutic to treat malaria – a disease that causes the death of up to one million people a year.”

“MMV is delighted to be collaborating with Anacor on the development of AN3661, and hope that our joint efforts will take this exciting compound into human studies as quickly as possible,” said Tim Wells, Chief Scientific Officer, MMV. “The malaria parasite is already showing signs of resistance to current medicines, and we urgently need to fill the malaria medicine chest with new medicines to treat the millions affected by this disease. We look forward to working closely with Anacor, putting this compound through the rigours of preclinical studies to develop a new and effective next generation antimalarial.”

About Anacor Pharmaceuticals

Anacor is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel small-molecule therapeutics derived from its boron chemistry platform. Anacor has discovered five clinical compounds which are currently in development, including its three lead programs: AN2690, a topical antifungal for the treatment of onychomycosis; AN2728, a topical anti-inflammatory PDE-4 inhibitor for the treatment of psoriasis; and GSK 2251052, or GSK ‘052 (formerly referred to as AN3365), a systemic antibiotic for the treatment of infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria, which has been licensed to GlaxoSmithKline under the companies’ research and development agreement. In addition, Anacor is developing AN2718 as a topical antifungal product candidate for the treatment of onychomycosis and skin fungal infections, and AN2898 as a topical anti-inflammatory product candidate for the treatment of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.

Neglected Diseases Initiative

Neglected diseases are defined as diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest people, including tuberculosis or TB, malaria, visceral leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, human African trypanosomiasis or African sleeping sickness, and filarial worm diseases such as onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis. Despite the fact that these diseases cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide, and that the current standards of care are difficult to administer, have significant toxicities and are increasingly becoming less effective due to the development of resistance, there has been little investment in developing new therapies for these diseases due to the absence of a reasonable expectation of a financial return.

In recent years, a number of foundations and governments have created public-private partnerships to address this gap by funding promising technologies that may result in new drugs. In December 2007, Anacor established a partnership with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, or DNDi, to develop new therapeutics for African sleeping sickness, visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. In May 2009, Anacor established a collaboration with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. In April 2010, Anacor entered into a research collaboration with the Medicines for Malaria Venture to identify lead compounds for the treatment and prophylaxis of malaria. In November, 2010, Anacor entered into a collaboration with UCSF and New York Blood Center to discover drugs to treat River Blindness. And in March 2011, we announced a research collaboration with the Institute for OneWorld Health to develop new treatments for diarrheal disease.

About Medicines for Malaria Venture

MMV is a leading product development partnership (PDP) in the field of anti-malaria drug research and development. It was established as a foundation in 1999, and registered in Switzerland.

MMV’s mission is to reduce the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries by discovering, developing and facilitating delivery of new, effective and affordable anti-malaria drugs.

MMV’s vision is a world in which these innovative medicines will cure and protect the vulnerable and under-served populations at risk of malaria, and help to ultimately eradicate this terrible disease.

MMV’s strength comes from its product development partnership (PDP) model reflected in its network of more than 140 pharmaceutical, academic and endemic-country partners in 37 countries. MMV also works in close partnership with a number of WHO programmes that include TDR, the Global Malaria Programme (GMP) and Roll Back Malaria (RBM).

The key to MMV’s success lies in the focus of its mission, and the diversity of its team of almost 50 personnel from more than 20 countries, handpicked for their expertise and commitment to global health. Governed by the values of respect, integrity, trust and excellence, MMV is recognized for its industry-style portfolio management and wise administration of funds. It manages over USD 515 million received and committed from long-term donors such as government agencies, private foundations, international organizations, and corporate foundations. In addition, it receives in-kind donations in the form of staff, facilities, and technology from its industry partners, estimated to be equal in dollar value to the funds from donors.

MMV is currently managing the largest portfolio of antimalarial R&D projects ever assembled. Of over 50 promising projects, two MMV-supported artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), Eurartesim™ and Pyramax®, are awaiting regulatory approval by the European Medicines Agency in 2011. In November 2010, Guilin’s artesunate injection for the treatment of severe malaria was approved by the WHO’s Prequalification programme with assistance from MMV. In addition, a child-friendly version of the ACT Coartem, was developed by Novartis in partnership with MMV and launched in 2009. In the first 20 months following the introduction of Coartem® Dispersible, more than 55 million courses of treatment were supplied to children in malaria-endemic countries.

Source: Business Wire

African Leaders Malaria Alliance Receives $250K Grant to Help Fight Malaria

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The African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), an alliance of 39 African leaders, has been awarded a $250,000 grant to help with its campaign to combat malaria.

ALMA, chaired by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and recently elected Deputy Chair, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, was launched in 2009 as a collaborative effort for African leaders to work together with the African Union, United Nations and other local and international partners to combat malaria in Africa. The alliance seeks to complement efforts that address the challenges of malaria and aims to raise malaria awareness at the global, national and local levels.

The grant is from the ExxonMobil Foundation, and will support ALMA’s advocacy and communications efforts, as well as technical assistance to governments.

“We are thrilled and grateful to be awarded a grant from the ExxonMobil Foundation, a long-time ally in Africa’s efforts to fight malaria,” said ALMA Executive Secretary Johannah-Joy Phumaphi. “We have recently seen great success in the fight against malaria and we must all remain steadfast in our efforts.”

The past year has seen enormous progress in the battle against malaria in Africa, due in large part to the collaborative work of ALMA, which has been instrumental in accelerating access to and the use of malaria control interventions such as mosquito nets. The World Health Organization’s World Malaria Report 2010 reports 80 percent net coverage and an additional 10 percent coverage when indoor spraying is included. Its focus now is to sustain this coverage and to eliminate preventable malaria deaths by 2015.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by malaria in the world, with 90 percent of malaria mortality occurring there. Malaria also accounts for 40 percent of hospital admissions in this region and is a leading cause of workplace and school absenteeism. When accounting for direct costs and lost economic productivity associated with the disease, malaria costs the African economy $12 billion in lost GDP annually.

Source: Business Wire

Disease Burdens Shifting from Communicable to Chronic Diseases

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Those working for healthier humans around the globe are making headway in fighting communicable diseases such as AIDS, malaria and diarrheal illness, and researchers at the University of Denver have found that there is a transition occurring in global health from disease burdens due to communicable diseases to chronic ones such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

“Because of great advances, the number of deaths globally from communicable diseases has fallen significantly compared to deaths from chronic diseases, which primarily affect the elderly,” according to Barry Hughes, director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures in the University of Denver’s  Josef Korbel School of International Studies.  “This transformation is proceeding, and more rapidly and universally than most have realized.”

The Pardee Center recently released the third in a series of five volumes that focus on human progress in which researchers explore topics such as education, poverty, infrastructure and governance. The latest book is Improving Global Health: Forecasting the Next 50 Years (Paradigm Publishers and Oxford University Press India, 2011).

Statistics already show a 50 percent higher rate of death globally from chronic disease than from communicable diseases, although there are still more years of potential life lost to communicable diseases because they kill more infants and children.

By 2020, however, chronic diseases will even take more years of life than will communicable ones.  The transition is both driven by and driving rapid population aging, even in developing countries.

Still, nearly 10 million children die every year, mostly from communicable diseases. Had children in poorer countries died at the same rate as those in high-income countries, there would have been about 9 million fewer child deaths that year.

“We’re bringing the communicable diseases under control – malaria for example – with interventions such as more bed netting to protect from mosquitoes; AIDS death rates are also on a downward trend,” Hughes says.

However, Hughes points out that some parts of Africa–particularly in the north and south–are experiencing higher obesity rates and rising incidences of associated diseases such as diabetes now that incomes are rising.

Another issue is environmental impacts on disease such as localized air pollution from the burning of solid fuels in poor countries. Hughes says they forecast a decrease in these problems, but disease related to urban air pollution and global warming is expected to increase.

Overall, Hughes says life expectancies are getting higher around the globe, too. “We’re doing many significant things right,” he says. “We’ve been good, for example, at attacking specific diseases such as smallpox and polio. On a global basis we’ve seen some great success.”

Nevertheless, Hughes says barriers to better health that still exist include money and the knowledge and technology to develop vaccines for malaria and AIDS. What’s more, he says, it’s difficult to set up comprehensive health services to treat a wide range of health threats. Examples of those threats are maternal mortality and heart disease.

The volume’s other authors include Randall Kuhn, director of DU’s Global Health Affairs program, Cecilia Peterson, Dale Rothman and Jose Solorzano. The book can be downloaded for free or ordered online.

Hughes spoke about analyzing worldwide solutions at the 2010 TEDxDU at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts on the University of Denver campus.

Source: University of Denver

Hoolywood Bites Back Fundraiser to Fight Malaria

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Conan O’Brien, Elizabeth Banks, B.J. Novak, and David Arquette are among the many comedians, musicians and public figures performing stand-up, sketches and musical acts when some of today’s hottest stars from television, film and music will take the stage at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on April 16th for Hollywood Bites Back!, a night of comedy to benefit the nonprofit Malaria No More.

“I am honored to have been asked to take part in this important event. I just hope that we can find a better cure for malaria than comedy,” said Conan O’Brien.

Hollywood Bites Back! is an extension of the Comedy Fights Malaria campaign, launched in October 2010, in which 25 celebrities including John Mayer, Orlando Bloom, Elizabeth Banks, Ed Helms, B.J. Novak, Josh Groban, Lake Bell, Ellie Kemper, Ted Danson, Jeremy Piven, and many others created comedy-driven viral and broadcast PSAs as a brand new approach to end an age-old health issue. The campaign also includes comedic digital shorts of Ed Helms, Nick Kroll, Paul Sheer, Riki Lindhome and Nastasha Leggero from their summer 2010 trip to Senegal with Malaria No More.

Although malaria was eradicated in the United States 60 years ago, many Americans do not know that this preventable and treatable disease continues to claim the lives of 781,000 people every year—most of them, children under the age of five in Africa.

“Malaria is no laughing matter, but we’re always looking for new and unexpected ways to shine a spotlight on the issue,” said Peter Chernin, Chairman and Co-Founder of Malaria No More. “We’re lucky to have some of the best in the comedy business come together for Hollywood Bites Back! in support of our efforts to ensure that no child dies of this preventable and treatable disease.”

Source: Malaria No More

Insecticide-Treated Mosquito Nets (ITMNs) Helps Prevent Japanese Encephalitis

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A new study reveals that using treated mosquito nets could drastically reduce the transmission of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) to humans.

The study, conducted by the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Dibrugarh, North East Region (NE), Indian Council of Medical Research and released in the March issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, showed that the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITMNs) on humans and pigs reduced transmission of JE 72 percent in humans.

The study looked at the effectiveness of using ITMNs to protect both pig and human populations. It evaluated the efficacy of reducing the transmission of JE in areas where high virus activity has been reported. The JE virus multiplies rapidly in pigs, considered by experts to be a key element in the natural cycle of the virus and its transmission to humans.

Sharp drops in infection rates were found in three locations following the use of ITMNs. In one location, the nets were used to protect both humans and pigs which resulted in the greatest drop in infection rates (72 percent), compared with areas where treated mosquito nets protected only humans (67 percent) or pigs (56 percent).

“We are pleased that the results of this study show that ITMNs are extremely effective against JE,” said Prafulla Dutta, Scientist, RMRC, NE, “Educating people in JE-prone areas that using ITMNs will help reduce the transmission of the disease without disturbing social customs in these communities. We believe that this will, in turn, reduce mortality associated with JE while keeping communities healthy and productive, further improving the global economy.”

JE is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes that infects both animals and humans. It is the leading cause of viral encephalitis (infection of the brain) in Asia and is estimated to be fatal in 30 percent of cases. Death as a result of JE is particularly high among children, killing approximately 8,000 children yearly.

“Increasingly, ITMNs have been shown to be an easy-to-use and effective tool in preventing mosquito-borne diseases such as JE, lymphatic filariasis and malaria,” said Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, President, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. “This simplicity of action, combined with its low cost, drives the absolute necessity for distribution of these life-saving devices on a much larger scale.”

The researchers note that insecticide components, particularly pyrethroids, are gaining importance in mosquito control because of their low toxicity towards mammals and the strong repellant impact on mosquitoes.

Source: American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH)

Liquidia Technologies Gets $10M from Gates Foundation for Malaria Vaccine

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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested $10 million in Liquidia Technologies, a closely held biotechnology company developing vaccines, as part of a $400 million initiative to fund activities to help poorer countries.

Liquidia is developing a seasonal flu vaccine and has an agreement with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to use its technology to work on new malaria vaccines, the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based company said today in an e- mailed statement. [Read more…]

Inexpensive Lens-Free Mobile Phone Microscope May Improve Detection of Malaria

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Aydogan Ozcan, an associate professor of electrical engineering at UCLA, is working on a low-cost microscope that uses the silicon sensor found in mobile phone cameras. According to Ozcan, his microscope, which currently has a resolution of one millionth of a meter, which is powerful enough to reliably image the malaria parasite.

While a traditional microscope can have a six-figure price tag, Ozcan believes his microscopes can be produced for under $10.

According to CNN, the device, dubbed LUCAS (Lensless, Ultra-wide-field Cell monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging), clips onto to the back of a standard cell phone (minus its lens) and comprises of an LED light, a spatial filter, and a slot for a medical slide. It works by passing light through a slide sample which creates shadows of individual cells on the phone’s digital camera sensor positioned below. [Read more…]

U.S. Budget Cuts May Drastically Reduce Funding for Malaria Bed Nets and Treatment Programs

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Recently the House of Representatives passed a Continuing Resolution to fund the federal budget for the rest of the fiscal year 2011. The legislation slashes programs that save the lives of some of the poorest people on the planet. These programs have been championed by Republicans and Democrats in the past, but now some of the most cost-effective programs our government funds to help combat pandemic diseases and eliminate poverty are on the chopping block. [Read more…]

Synthetic Vaccine May Help Combat Malaria, HIV-AIDS

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Scientists have developed a new type of nano particle which they say can safely and effectively deliver vaccines for diseases such as malaria and HIV-AIDS.

Developed by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the new particles consist of concentric fatty spheres that can carry synthetic versions of proteins normally produced by viruses.
[Read more…]